A/N: This one is dedicated to Luv_meagain over at the ABC Castle boards, who asked me to write a Caskett kiss in the rain, therefore sparking my imagination and making me break all of my fanfic writing rules. :)
I always swore I would never write a fanfic like this because I was afraid I would mess it up. So I apologize if the characters are a little OOC or if the kiss is a bit awkward. I've never written a kiss before. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own Castle.
Although I do own a near life-sized cardboard stand-up of Castle and Beckett that watches over me as I sleep.
She wasn't supposed to find it.
He'd never meant for her to find it.
When she'd shown up at his apartment after dinner, stressed out about the case and wanting to go over notes, he'd been ecstatic. They'd spent hours brainstorming and drawing up new leads, and it wasn't long before she was smiling that smiles he loves and graciously accepting the glass of wine he'd offered her.
Things had taken a turn for the worse when he'd stepped out to go to the bathroom. When he'd returned, she'd been standing in his study, remote to his murder board in hand, staring down a complete outline of her mother's murder and her own shooting. She'd turned her glare on him the second he'd walked back into the room. And in her eyes he'd seen pain, fear, and betrayal.
It had killed him.
She hadn't even said anything. Just stormed out, leaving him standing there speechless and still shocked by the turn of events.
He stands there for several moments, torn over whether or not to follow her.
And then he runs.
He runs out into the hallway and immediately goes for the stairs, sprinting as fast as he can down every flight. He's desperate to beat the elevator. Desperate to beat her attempt to flee. He's done with them not talking about their problems. They're going to discuss this even if it kills him.
And knowing her, she just might.
He bursts into the lobby just in time to see the front door close. She's out on the sidewalk, getting ready to cross the street to where her car is parked. He runs outside and pauses, breathless from running.
"Kate!"
It's pouring. He's immediately drenched.
"Kate! Wait!" She ignores him and keeps walking towards her car. He takes a few stumbling steps forward.
"Kate! Please!" She spins around.
"What, Castle? What could you possibly say that could justify what I just saw?" She doesn't seem to realize that she's in the middle of the street. He opens his mouth to say something about it and then closes it when she storms back toward him, fire in her eyes.
"That's my mom's case, Castle! My mom's case!" She sounds like she's going to cry. His heart aches because of it. "How could you, Castle? How could you keep that from me?"
He reacts impulsively.
"Hey, I'm not the only one keeping secrets here!" Her eyes widen and then narrow.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I know you heard me," he challenges. "I know you heard what I said at the funeral. I know you remember."
She stands there silently for several moments, arms crossed. The rain continues to fall, and they're both thoroughly soaked now. Her hair is plastered to her face, and he can't help but notice the way her tee-shirt clings to her skin.
"How?" she asks, voice soft.
"Kate." He shakes his head and laughs quietly to himself. "I've spent over three years shadowing you. Learning your behaviors. Learning how your mind works." He shakes his head again. "If you think I don't know how to tell when you're lying . . ." His mouth twists up into the shadow of a smirk.
"But that's . . . different," she says, fidgeting. She won't meet his eyes. His brow creases, and the smirk is gone, replaced by a deep scowl.
"Different how?" Now he's getting mad. So she can toy with his feelings, but he can't stop her from chasing her mother's killer? To protect her?
"Because." She hesitates.
"'Because', Kate? Really?"
"Because you didn't mean it!"
She might as well have slapped him.
"What?" he breathes.
"You were under duress, Castle. Okay? I get it. You were in a strenuous situation and it made you say some . . . things because you got caught up in the moment."
He has to stop to breathe and get his anger under control. When he speaks, his voice rumbles.
"Didn't mean it? Didn't . . . mean it?" He pauses, takes some more deep breaths. "Fine." Breathe. "Fine. You don't believe me? I'll say it again."
"Castle-"
"No." He shuts her up with a single piercing look. "No, Kate. I love you. Okay? I. Love. You."
She stares. Rain runs into his eyes. He blinks it away.
"I love you every second of every day. I love you when you smile. I love you when you frown. I love you when you stand at the murder board and stare at in concentration when you're trying to solve a case. I love you when I'm watching you interrogate a suspect. I love you when you don't let me drive. I love you when we're standing in the break room drinking coffee. Hell, I bring you coffee everyday because I love you!"
He laughs to himself. Almost wildly.
"God, Kate! I love you so much that I kept that information about your mother's murder from you because I decided that I'd rather have you alive and hating me than dead. I love you so much that it hurts."
He stares down at the ground and shakes his head slowly, sobering up. They stand in silence for several moments.
"I love you, Kate. I do." He looks up, stares at her intensely. "But none of that matters to you does it?"
She's still quiet, her face unreadable. He sighs.
"Do you know what? I'm wasting my time." He turns to go . . .
She stops him by grabbing the front of his shirt and crushing her mouth to his.
His anger dissipates immediately, his hands moving from her waist to her back, pulling her closer. She pushes up on her toes, pressing herself against him, and slides her arms around his neck to deepen the kiss.
The rain runs over them.
The kiss is passionate, yet slow. And inexplicably soft. He smiles against her lips.
A clap of thunder resonates above them.
She pulls away, smiling as she looks up at the sky and laughs at some kind of joke he doesn't understand. When she looks back at him, and he sees that the fire has returned to her eyes. But this time it's . . . different.
He grins down at her.
"So does this mean I'm forgiven?" he asks. She leans back to get a better look at him, pauses for a moment, and then shakes her head.
"No." She presses another gentle kiss to his lips. "But you're getting there."
His smile softens as he reaches up to push some of her wet hair behind her ear. She pulls away, takes a few steps back.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Castle."
As she saunters off through the rain, he mulls over the fact that she was certainly right about something.
They're definitely getting there.
A/N: I love reviews like Castle loves Beckett. :)